Kohl's Will Open 86,450-SF Store

Now, Kohl's is about to add a 19th store in the state. The company has just signed a lease for 86,450 sf to anchor the middle of the 240,000-sf Flemington Mall. The new store is tentatively scheduled to open in just over a year from now.

Flemington Mall itself is a work in progress. Owned by the locally based Plapinger family for more than 25 years, the nearly vacant enclosed mall is being repositioned as a strip center tenanted by discount-oriented retailers. Currently, Burlington Coat Factory is the only operating retailer in the center, although Michael's Art and Crafts is scheduled to open shortly.

Lining up Kohl's, one of the country's most aggressive retailers, is expected to give the leasing effort a big boost, according to observers. The complex's general manager, Scott Plapinger, is said to be actively courting a number of key retailers, including a major bookstore chain, to fill out the complex's vacant spaces.

Flemington Mall, which is located just outside of this Hunterdon County seat in Raritan Twp., fell victim over the years to such nearby competitors as the massive Bridgewater Commons in Bridgewater. Tenants began to filter away a decade ago as their leases expired, according to Plapinger, and a serious redevelopment plan has been in the works for approximately the last two years.

With Burlington Coat Factory operating and a lease in hand with Kohl's, that renovation effort will begin in earnest. Under the current plan, demolition work on the existing building's interior is slated to start by mid-spring, and a major exterior building upgrade will begin by mid-summer. The redevelopment project will also include parking lot repaving and re-lighting, as well as landscape work.

Besides Flemington Mall, the Plapinger family owns shopping center properties in Lawrence Twp. and Willingboro, NJ, and in Florida. Several of the properties are currently in various stages of redevelopment.